Albert Nobbs (2012)

Albert Nobbs Synopsis

Award winning actress Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) plays a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland. Some thirty years after donning men's clothing, she finds herself trapped in a prison of her own making. Mia Wasikowska (Helen), Aaron Johnson (Joe) and Brendan Gleeson (Dr. Holloran) join a prestigious, international cast that includes Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Janet McTeer, Brenda Fricker and Pauline Collins.

Rodrigo Garcia directs from a script that Glenn Close, along with Man Booker prize-winning novelist John Banville and Gabriella Prekop, adapted from a short story by Irish author George Moore.

2012 marks the GLAAD Media Awards 23rd year, and the ceremony has grown from a small affair to a lavish and celebrity-studded string of festivities that take place in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Fittingly, this year's nominees include features with A-listers as well as films from all over the globe.

This year, with her performance in The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep will likely be going for her third Oscar after being nominated 16 times. While that percentage may not seem that great, it's better than the record that Glenn Close has at the Academy Awards. Though she has been nominated five times, Close has never taken home the trophy, but this year she may break that streak. Ironically, it may happen with her playing a man.

The clip suggests the light touch of, say, a Gosford Park, and only hints at the beautiful character work mustered by Close and her co-star, Janet McTeer, as women forced to live as men in order to find work in their cash-strapped country. Director Rodrigo Garcia finds surprising pockets of hope and beauty as Albert dreams of living a different life.

The most interesting thing about this announcement is the fact that it comes just a day before the fest is due to begin. Talk about coming in just under the wire. I’m thrilled to see new films from Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, Werner Herzog, and Wim Wenders on the roster. As a psychology nerd, Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, an examination of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, is particularly high on my list of must-sees.

With her short haircut and thin frame Glenn Close is an easier candidate for cross-dressing than many women, but I don't think anyone anticipated exactly how well she'd pull it off until seeing photos from the set